Spurs stun Inter as United cruise in Turkey

Rafael Van der Vaart came through a late fitness test to take his place in the Spurs side and opened the scoring before being substituted at half-time following a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury.

Winger Gareth Bale was once again the star of the show and provided the assist for Peter Crouch to extend Tottenham's lead and then again for Roman Pavlyuchenko to seal the victory after Inter had struck back through Samuel Eto'o.

Manchester United scored three second-half goals against Turkish champions Bursaspor to win 3-0 and move to within a point of a place in the knockout phase.

Darren Fletcher broke the deadlock two minutes after the break before Gabriel Obertan grabbed his first goal for the club and Bebe struck in a four-minute spell later in the game.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased with those final two efforts from his wingers given United lost Nani to a groin injury in the first half, which makes him a doubt for Saturday's Premier League encounter with Wolves.

Group D leaders Barcelona will have to wait to book their spot in the next round after being held to a 1-1 draw by FC Copenhagen at the Parken Stadion.

Barca knew a victory in Denmark would guarantee themselves a place in the knock-out stages and the two-time reigning Spanish champions looked on course to achieve that after taking a 31st-minute lead through Lionel Messi.

However, second-placed FC Copenhagen went down the other end and drew level almost immediately through Claudemir to earn a share of the points - although they survived a big let-off in the final minute when Barca substitute Pedro Rodriguez hit the post.

Lyon scored three late goals but missed their chance to reach the last 16 with games to spare as Benfica boosted their own hopes of progressing from Group B with a thrilling 4-3 win.

The hosts began the night six points adrift of Lyon, but swept aside their French visitors in the early going with first-half goals from Alan Kardec, Fabio Coentrao and Javi Garcia.

Coentrao's second made it 4-0 midway through the second half before Lyon began their fightback. Jorge Carlos Martins provided the assist for all four Benfica goals.

Yoann Gourcuff got the first before Bafetimbi Gomis struck five minutes from time. Dejan Lovren headed home in the fifth minute of injury time, but the points went to Benfica.

FC Twente kept alive their faint Champions League hopes with a crucial 2-0 win away to ten-man Werder Bremen.

The game was a succession of half-chances until the 74th-minute dismissal of Torsten Frings swung the balance in the Dutch side's favour. Twente seized their chance, Nacer Chadli quickly finding the breakthrough before Luuk de Jong confirmed the win just moments later.

Rangers suffered their first defeat in the Champions League this season as Roberto Soldado grabbed a double to hand Valencia a 3-0 victory at the Mestalla.

He netted on both sides of the interval, before Tino Costa sealed the win late on, as the Spaniards leapfrogged Rangers into second place in Group C. Steven Naismith hit the woodwork twice on a frustrating night for Walter Smith's men.

Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos saw their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knock-out stage recede further with a goalless draw in Russia.

The hosts were the only side to carve out any chances of note, with Alexander Ryazantsev's fierce header which goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas did well to turn away the closest they came to breaking the deadlock.

Hapoel Tel Aviv recorded their first ever point in the Champions League with a 0-0 draw against Schalke - but Bloomfield was rarely lit up on a lacklustre European night.

Source: espn.co.uk